Check out that xp bar! Less than one bubble to 46…
I was tired and tuckered out last night from two late nights of programming image filters (the latest result is the candy-colored candy shop seen in my ShutterCal widget), but while a test image rendered, I thought maybe I’d just jump into Wizard 101 and see if Suri was up for a trip through Big Ben or Kensington. I love running through Big Ben.
She wasn’t on, so I do what I normally do when I’m bored and running around Moo Shu. Head to Shirataki Temple and take on, once again, the Plague Oni. Takes about 45 minutes.
There are four mini-bosses and two major bosses in Shirataki, but the best loot is saved for the very last. The Plague Oni can drop a nice sword, a pet, and a wide variety of end game gear. But the past half dozen or so times I’ve killed it (as I creep toward level 46 from the xp gained killing the mobs along the way), I’ve gotten just one loot, and that one loot has always been trash. The Footwraps of Pictures that was the sole loot from Plague Oni? +21 health and +2% Storm resistance, Storm school only. I wouldn’t wear that if I were a Storm wizard. It’s trash loot.
Plague Oni used to drop good stuff — I got my second sword here — but now he drops nothing. My theory? The RMT NPCs that drop by to sell holiday gear also place some of that gear on NPCs. The Onis were said to drop some of it, sometimes. I think that screwed up their loot tables. Plague Oni supposedly drops my Life shoes. I’ve even GOTTEN THEM with my alt when I was two boxing, but of course there is no item trading in the game. But since Harvest Hannah arrived, it seems neither the Plage Oni nor the Jade Oni drop loot.
Anyway, after that disappointing run, I went to bed at 9PM and didn’t wake up until 6AM.
This weekend I have to bring my son back to Warwick. I’ve been doing a lot of that. Last Sunday I drove him to RI. Wednesday I brought him back for a dentist appointment. Sunday I’ll bring him back AGAIN. Two hours each way leaves me totally dead and exhausted.
I imagine this weekend I will re-install Lord of the Rings Online and check in on my Captain. I don’t think I am going to restart on another server, but I might see what’s happening on Winfola. I think my Captain was level 34 or so? There’s been a lot of new stuff since I last played, and the North Downs grind might be a little more manageable.
Definitely going to get back into DOMO. I WANT TO PLAY SPELLBORN SO MUCH! I am trying my hardest not to get too involved in Spellborn because it all has to restart whenever Acclaim brings it to the States.
I hate having taken a taste and forced to wait for the meal.
Isis says Hi. Rendered with the Candyshop filter.
I agree that Plague Oni loot is nerfed . . . I’ve been there a few times and never seem to get anything beyond trash loot. I may head in there now and try a run just to see what I get and post it up on my blog, yo. We may need to start a campaign to free the Plague Oni’s loot table!
LOTRO! GASP! Did you know I ran a LOTRO blog for a while, Tipa? http://minstrelmagnet.blogspot.com/ The info there is assuredly out of date. Assuredly! I uninstalled it from my PC. 🙁 Tipa playing the game again though might change my mind. hmmmm.
Well, I posted about it on the W101 forums but no response. In my own defense, I did try to bring attention to it through channels before posting about it on the blog. But something needs to be done.
I’m only considering LotRO right now because some friends are giving it a shot, and it might be time for another look. It was yet another graphically intense game that ran like crap on my machine, though, so when my free month was up, that, combined with the general barrenness of the zones (few people), the huge time sink of running everywhere, and the repetitive nature of the quests (kill bears. Kill more bears. And now… more bears! Welcome to Trollshaw! Your job here — KILL MORE BEARS!)
I played a Hobbit Minstrel for awhile, but switched over to a Human Captain.
According to all the LOTRO apologists, the bears and wolves and boar decimation quests are not as bad (not sure what that means actually)
Also, according to the LOTRO lovefest, the servers are much fuller….so you may just find these things changed..
The game itself …well, we won’t go there….already nodding off talking about it.
Have fun, and please share the adventures.
I first heard the word “apologist”, in context, refer to CS Lewis for his treatises about Christianity. Are LotRO fans… religious about their game?
I have a couple of old Crimson Eternity friends that play, though I am pretty sure I don’t know anyone who plays on my particular server anymore… but they weren’t that fanatical about it.
Aww, I wish I had logged in last night! I need to do Big Ben and Counter West. I assume those are the last two things to unlock Moo Shu? BTW, did you get an email from me? Please check your spam folder. I’ve been trying to solicit your participation in a creative endeavor for 2009. You’re the last hold out. 🙂
I’ll be on W101 today but might have finished the Museum by the time you get online. I had yesterday and today off as compensation for having to come in from vacation across the Christmas holiday for planning drama and BS.
P.S. I was thinking about checking in again with LOTRO for a month just to see what’s up. I have no idea what server i was on at the time but my character was below level 20 I think.
No, I haven’t gotten any mail from you. I’ll definitely check my spam when I get home from work today.
Sometimes mail sent to the tipa@westkarana.com address doesn’t get there — I don’t know why, my host claims it isn’t them. You can also email me at brendahol@gmail.com, that will almost definitely reach me.
I’m not going to lie, there are some incredibly boring aspects to LOTRO. On the other hand . . . if you have a solid group of 3-5 players that you like to hang with, there are plenty of things to do besides the bears. The books, the instances, and the pvp are not to be missed. Endgame raids were fun when I had the time. But yeah, the repetitiveness of kill quests is a definitely downside . . . in any mmorpg.
re LotRO fans… religious about their game?
Boy, do I have some forum posts to show you…hehe
Tipa, you might check out Evendim if you find the North Downs are getting dull. You get to it by going North out of The Shire. It was added in one of the content updates, so maybe wasn’t there when you were playing.
PS We have a guinea pig named Isis: http://dragonchasers.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/isis_eq.jpg
I only played first month of Live. I thought about going back after Evendim, but just so many games, so little time.
I’ll candyshop your guinea pig when I get home…
I only played during beta and it was a decent game but it didn’t seem like it offered much that was new or special. I’m wondering what changed that has attracted so much attention from the blogosphere lately.
Beats me. Gonna check in and see.
They need to hurry and bring Spellborn over here…I want to play..now…Bah!
Was chatting with Shayla as you guys hit Kensington Park tonight (Friday Jan. 9th, USA Pacific Time). I was going to teleport in on my Life Wizard and help out, but every time I hit “Go To Location” it told me Saylah was busy. I’m thinking Kensington Park must be the Instance I’ve heard about, which locks you out if you’re not one of the First Four to zone in, or I’d have been there to help you all out.
Apparently you completed it though, so Huge Gratz there!
Dragonspyre is released on the test realm!!! It is freaking amazing.
Hehe, I also have a cat named Isis. And Horus. And Bastet. *grin*
Patching Dragonspyre now.
@Mallika well Bastet I can understand. My daughter named Isis, I would have named her something else. But Isis is her name and I love her for it 🙂
If you had a dog, would it be named Anubis? Or Set?
Windfola… schmindfola! You need to be on Brandywine with Ysall and I.
Do they allow character transfers? No way I’m gonna restart. LotRO really redefined tedium for me and I don’t want to do all that again. I’ll come in for a look, see if it’s changed, but I’m not starting over.
But I would LOVE to play with you and Ysall again!!!!
Tipa, those are their official names, but unofficially we call them Kitty (Horus), Little Girl (Bastet), and Monster or Wonster (Isis) … though my in-laws call her Missy. Those are my baby-talk pet names for them, and they kind of stuck. *grin*
My husband and I fostered a golden retriever pup for a while and he didn’t come with a name, so we named him Rex. Well, my husband named him Rex — I wanted to name him something else. And no, Anubis (3 syllables) is too long. Not sure about Set. Though of course you could be teasing me on the Egyptian theme, heh.
It wasn’t supposed to really turn out that way, as we got Horus and another kitten from the animal shelter together, but the kitten (we named her Nekita) died due to a health complication she had since birth (which the shelter didn’t detect -_-). It was when we adopted a little black kitten months later that I looked at Horus’ name and went, Hmmm.
When I was going to http://www.wizard101.com. And guess what? THEY BLOCKED ME FROM THE SCHOOL!